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John Green and the YA Revolution

There is a high chance that you know who John Green is, even if you do not read at all. He has become a huge name in the world of young adult novels and for good reason. A lot of people might not understand the fascination with Green, who does write in a rather floral manner that is certainly not conversational.

In order to understand the appeal of John Green, one must understand the target audience and the kind of subject matters he deals with. Green’s most successful book to date, The Fault in Our Stars, deals with teenagers suffering from cancer. This is quite a difficult topic to cover, especially if the child leading it does not have a full and firm understanding of said topics. However, by giving it a fictional format, Green helps parents and adults introduce complex concepts of diseases, death and support to their children.

Green does not flinch away from making his endings dark and bleary- thereby giving the young adults a view of reality that is not rose tinted. His prose treats young adults and children like grown ups that are capable of understanding complex problems and tackling emotional aspects of the same. His use of rather complex language that is usually not used by common teenagers is further proof of his belief in his target demographic.